Evocations of the Dance IV: Crossovers: When Highbrow Went Lowbrow, When Lowbrow Went Highbrow (3)


http://www.jazzstudiesonline.org/files/Jazz%20as%20Decal.pdf

Fair warning: this is an exercise in false dichotomies – jazz and classical music in the twentieth century were often feeding off similar roots. But my key contention is that even now, long after Gunther Schuller’s ‘Third Stream’, the phenomenon that is the appeal of ‘World Music’, and the fusion of everything that isn’t bolted down (to mix a metaphor), we still have a sense of what is jazz and what is classical music.

It could be borrowings of melodic, harmonic or rhythmic qualities, or it could be the tendency of jazz musicians to favour more complex harmonies or to otherwise show their allegiance to the avant garde, which seems to me more of a highbrow borrowing from the classical music world than an indigenous jazz trait.

Something about confluences, tributaries here.

So, the following list of tracks represent a slightly selective history of jazz tracks with classical elements and classical tracks with a jazz influence.

I want this list to be an organic thing. If you can suggest any tracks I’ve neglected, please leave a comment.

The 1940s

YearThe Jazz Side Of ThingsThe Classical Side Of Things
1940Moonlight on the Ganges (Eddie Sauter) - Benny Goodman - 1940Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (Szpilman, 1940) - Wladyslaw Szpilman - 1972
Elegie (Massenet) - Art Tatum - 1940American Minuet (Harold Arlen, 1940) - Harold Arlen - 1955
Darn That Dream (Jimmy Van Heusen & Edgar De Lange) - Mildred Bailey with Benny Goodman & His Orchestra  - 1940Seldom The Sun (Alec Wilder, 1940) - The Alec Wilder Octet - 1940
1941Laughing in Rhythm - Sidney Bechet
Snowfall - Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra
Intermezzo - Earl Hines - 1941 
Serenade To A Maid - Teddy Powell and his Orchestra - 1941
The Flight of the Bumblebee (Rimsky-Korsakov) - Harry James - 1941
Rustle Of Spring - John Kirby & His Orchestra - 1941
1942The Aghast Ghost - Slava Eman Novacek and His Orchestra - 1942
Jitterbug Waltz - Fats Waller - 1942
1943Artistry in Rhythm - Stan Kenton
The Blues (from Black, Brown and Beige, Ellington, 1943) - Duke Ellington, v. Marie Ellington - 1944
1944Fugueing Jam Session (from Evenings On The Roof) - Ray Green - 1944
1945Dalvatore Sally - Boyd-Raeburn Orchestra - 1945
Improvisation No. 6 - Django ReinhardtEbony Concerto for Clarinet and Instrumental Ensemble (Igor Stravinsky, 1945) - Benny Goodman & Columbia Jazz Combo - 1960
Avocado Seed Soup Symphony (Pt. 1) - Slim Gaillard, Leo Watson - 1945
Memphis In June - Boyd-Raeburn Orchestra, v. Ginnie Powell & David Allyn - 1945
Soliloquy (Rodgers & Hammerstein, 1945) - Frank Sinatra - 1946
1946Nuages (take 2) - Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli
Out on a Limb - Lennie Tristano Trio - 1946
Summer Sequence (Parts 1, 2 & 3) - Woody Herman - 1946
1947Lament - Laurindo Almeida - 1947Concerto for Clarinet, String Orchestra, Harp and Piano (Aaron Copland, 1947) - Benny Goodman - 1951
The Clothed Woman - Duke Ellington - 1947
1948Picasso - Coleman Hawkins - 1948
Rhapsody In Wood - Woody Herman - 1948
1949Similau - Artie Shaw and His Orchestra
Goin’ Home - Art Tatum - 1949With Bounce (from Four Piano Blues) (Copland, 1949) - Leo Smit - 1978
A Bird In Igor’s Yard - Buddy DeFrancoPrelude, Fugue and Riffs for Clarinet and Instrumental Ensemble. (Leonard Bernstein, 1949) - Benny Goodman & Columbia Jazz Combo - 1961
The Crickets - Woody Herman - 1949
Gigolette - Elliot Lawrence (feat. Lucie Bigelow Rosen on Theremin) - 1949
Yesterdays - Lenny Tristano - 1949

The 1950s

YearThe Jazz Side Of ThingsThe Classical Side Of Things
1950Mirage (Rugolo) - Stan Kenton - 1950
1951Yesterday’s Ice Cubes - Raymond Scott - 1951
1952Lullaby of Birdland - George Shearing - 1952
1953
Eclipse - Charles Mingus - 1953
Clair de lune (Debussy) - Ted Heath - 1953Strange Fruit (Lewis Allen) - Aubrey Pankey, p. Frederick Bontoft - 1953
1954Egdon Heath - Stan Kenton - 1954Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra (Liebermann, 1954) - Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Sauter-Finegan Orchestra - 1955
1955You Don’t Know What Love Is - Bud Shank & Trombones - 1954-5Rag (from Derivations for Clarinet and Band) (Morton Gould, 1955) - Benny Goodman & Columbia Jazz Band cond. Morton Gould - 1955
Just A Closer Walk With Thee - Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band - 1955
1956Django (with Phil Woods) - MJQ - 1956Concerto for Billy the Kid (Russell) - Woody Herman - 1956
Bemsha Swing (Monk) - Cecil Taylor - 1956Foxtrot (from Suite for Variety Orchestra) (Shostakovich, c. 1956) - Riccardo Chailly & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - 1993
Of Hope (from Three Little Feelings, John Lewis) - Miles Davis, trumpet; Orchestra cond. Gunther Schuller - 1956
Pharaoh (Giuffre) - Orchestra cond. by Gunther Schuller - 1956
Poem For Brass (J. J. Johnson) - Miles Davis, flugelhorn; Orchestra cond. Gunther Schuller - 1956
1957Edgard Varese and the Jazzmen - 1957Cool Fugue - (Bernstein) (1957) - Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, feat. Yo-Yo Ma, cond. David Zinman - 1996
Exposure - The Modern Jazz Quartet - 1957Transformation (Schuller) - Brandeis Jazz Festival Ensemble - 1957
All About Rosie (George Russell) - Gerry Mulligan - 1957 All Set (Babbitt, arr. Schuller) - Bill Evans & Orchestra, cond. Gunther Schuller - 1957
My Ship (Arr. Gil Evans) - Miles Davis & 19 - 1957
1958Moonray - George Shearing - 1958
Manteca (Gillespie, arr. Gil Evans) - Cannonball Adderley - 1958
Love me or Leave me - Nina Simone - 1958
Ballad Of The Sad Young Men - Gil Evans & Jimmy Cleveland - 1958
Midnight Sun - The Chico Hamilton Trio intr. Freddie Gambrell - 1958
1959Air on a G string - Jacques Loussier - 1959

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